Black Panther (2018)

Director: Ryan Coogler
Writers: Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole
DOP: Rachel Morrison
Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o

T'challa, after the death of his father, the king of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king.

Wakanda is a resource rich nation with abundant supply of a metal called Vibranium and they have chosen to keep this a secret from the outside world by adopting the veneer of being a poor farming nation. While the condition of rest of Africa and African Americans all over the world is poor, they see no reason to come to their aid out of fear of exposing their secret. One of their own (Michael B. Jordan), unknown to them, has a radical plan to overthrow the king and arm the oppressed against the ruling classes all over the world. So it is basically kind of like the Dark Knight films.

Like almost all superhero films, the premise is pretty fucking stupid. But the ones that work are usually films which doesn't take itself too seriously. That is not the case with Black Panther. I had seen Thor: Ragnarok recently and I don't remember the Norse characters in it putting on a fake Nordic accent. In Black Panther, even though most of the business takes place in Wakanda, the characters have a fake English accent, which is supposed to be African,  that takes you right out of the film. It is especially bad because many of the dialogues in it are blatant expositions and it was like watching a poorly dubbed film. Expected much more from Ryan Coogler, whose debut feature 'Fruitvale Station' was an excellent watch.

PS: Martin Freeman plays the token white guy among the 'good' side.

Rating: 2.25/5

Fruitvale Station (2013)

Director: Ryan Coogler
Writer:    Ryan Coogler
Cast:       Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer

The purportedly true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old bay area resident, who crosses path with friends, enemies, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

The role of Oscar is played by Michael B. Jordan who is familiar to me as Wallace from season one of 'The Wire'. Wallace was one of the tragic stories in it and the line from D'Angelo Barksdale line, 'Yo String, where's Wallace at?' one of the highlights of that season. This film also handles a story with black characters giving it a Wire like treatment, which actually means non-stereotypical and realistic treatment. The film opens with the actual footage from the original incident, preparing the audience for what is to come in case they didn't know about it. This also helps to handle the race subject at the center  of it in a subtle and non-explicit way. When the film got released, they referenced the Trayvon Martin incident for publicity. It would of course need no publicity if it was released now after the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson and the Eric Garner verdict. It is a very honest look at the race relations in America which is further complicated by class struggles.

The language used in the film is very authentic requiring the usage of subtitles. The whole 'Wassup Bruh?' lingo is getting used by dickheads in Kochi, Kerala and I don't know how the fuck it got here. Maybe it is them listening to too much hip-hop music. Overall 'Fruitvale Station' is a relevant film handling the subject with great restraint leaving the viewer to draw conclusions on their own. There is only one conclusion to draw after the recent incidents. Film was produced by Forest Whitaker and got screened at Sundance film festival. It was picked up by Weinstein film company for $2 million and was a box office success grossing close to $17 million. I would hazard a guess that it would have been even more successful had it got released now. I cannot compare the film to the typical Spike Lee films since I have only seen '25th Hour' and 'Inside Man' from his filmography. I suspect he preferred to handle it in an explicit manner. It is a very promising debut for the writer/director Ryan Coogler and hopefully a career making role for its lead.

Rating: 4/5